Our final stop on our Benelux tour was to the infamous city of Amsterdam. If I’m being upfront and honest, I have no desire to return to Amsterdam ever. Saying that, it is something that is interesting to visit at least once. Their culture is definitely different, but that is not necessarily a bad thing! So let’s see what makes up Amsterdam beyond what it is known for.

The Usuals

Amsterdam is a “smaller” city, yet there are so many people there (mostly tourists, it seems). Moving around can be pretty difficult. There are people walking, bicycles that are out to run you over, cars driving through the streets, and trams circling through the city. The bicycles were definitely the most dangerous vehicles. I was shocked that I was not hit by either a bike or a tram.

Amsterdam is famous for two things: marijuana and prostitutes. There are “coffee shops” everywhere that sell not one drop of coffee but a lot of marijuana. I honestly have no idea how people can put up with it. It smells horrible! Then there’s the prostitutes in the Red Light District. By day, the less pretty prostitutes pop up in the windows and you can see the creepy men go up to their windows to strike a deal. At night, it doesn’t get much better. For me, it seems a bit sad that they feel the need to choose this as a profession. It’s also quite strange to see families walk through the area with children like it’s no big thing. I’m guess I’m too conservative for the liberal minds of the Dutch.

But Amsterdam is also a very beautiful city. Along almost every street runs a canal. There are houses and buildings that are built right along the water and many people have boats to transport them around the canals. You can also take a canal tour (for around €15), but we didn’t end up taking one because we ran out of time. The buildings in Amsterdam are almost all the same, but they have a unique feeling to them that makes Amsterdam feel unique.

Beauty of the Dutch

On our second day in Amsterdam, we went to the museum area. There is The Rijksmuseum, which is the national museum of the Netherlands and has a lot of famous work from Dutch artists. Then, there is the Van Gogh Museum. We waited in a long line to buy tickets for the Van Gogh Museum and we were lucky to be able to have gotten tickets at a close time because many people have to buy them days in advance.

You Can’t Miss Van Gogh

The Van Gogh Museum is a love letter to Van Gogh. There are four floors to the museum. The first floor shows his early work and gives a look at some of his many, many self-portraits. On the other floors, it shows a chronological look at his art and also the people who have influenced his work. Probably the most famous painting there was the sunflower picture, which holds a special place in my heart because we painted it in the 3rd grade and my mom still has the picture hanging in our house. The museum ends with his final work and a look at his tragic death by suicide.

The museum also gives an interesting look at his relationship with his brother. You can read and hear letters between him and his brother. I also learned a fun fact that his sister-in-law is responsible for his fame because she lent his work to art galleries after his death, which is when he finally got the recognition for his beautiful art. “Starry Night” was not at this museum, much to the chagrin of some people, which I actually found out after is at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

New Discoveries

We spent much of the afternoon walking around the streets, discovering cafes and just admiring the buildings. We were unable to go into the Anne Frank House because tickets have to be bought in advance or you have to wait in an extremely long line (literally went around two corners), but we were able to see it. It would have been nice to have seen the inside of the house, but time wasn’t on our side.

That night, we also went to a brewery that had been converted from a windmill. It’s called Brouwerij ‘t Ij. The windmill still stands on top, and the brewery sits at the bottom. We had got there just before 8, so my friend who likes beer was able to get in one drink before the brewery closed. It was a really cool site to see and I’m sure it’s a really great place to visit BEFORE 8 o’clock at night.

Tip Toe through the Tulips

On Sunday, which was Easter, we went to see some tulips, the famous flower of the Netherlands. We had to take a bus to the airport and then … wow! The line to get a bus to the place where the tulips were was HUGE! They were really efficient with this line, though, because we didn’t wait for very long in the line, maybe 30-45 minutes (which sounds like a lot, but you should have seen this line).

Imagine if Disney World was dedicated to tulips. You would have Keukenhof. Located about a half hour outside the city, it’s a theme park for tulips! Tulips are only in season from the end of March until May, so the time frame is very limited. We came at a great time! There are so many displays of flowers, including tulips and more. I had no idea there were so many different types and colors of flowers! I took more pictures of all the flowers than I had for two days in Amsterdam!

Fries are Life

One of my favorite things about Amsterdam were the fries. I’m a boring person, so I only got ketchup on all of mine, but my friends got more adventurous and tried the many different sauces to put on top of the fries. You can find fries shops everywhere. There was one place that is claimed to have the best fries in town, but the line was too long. We did enjoy as many fries as we could, though.

Transportation Station

Amsterdam has great transportation. Like I said earlier, you can walk, bike, drive, or take a tram. You have be on alert at all times, though. You don’t want to get an angry bell ring from a cyclist. It’s very easy to navigate through the city, too. We bought a 3-day public transportation pass. It cost €25 and you  can ride anything.

Amsterdam was an interesting place to visit and I am glad to be able to say that I have been to Amsterdam, but I don’t think I’ll plan on going there again any time soon. There are so many more places in the world I want to see, but Amsterdam will give you a one-of-a-kind experience you will never forget.